Reid near 60 votes for public plan

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid closed in on clinching 60 votes for a public health insurance option Friday as two key moderates signaled they wouldn’t stand in his way – clearing a path for Reid to finish work on a bill as early as Tuesday, Democratic officials said.

The moves came a day after Reid presented his idea for a public plan with a state “opt-out” to a skeptical President Barack Obama, who didn’t balk at the idea but questioned whether Reid could truly round up the votes, two sources familiar with the Oval Office meeting said.

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So Reid (D-Nev.) spent Friday counting the votes on different public option proposals and finding out what wavering senators need to support the bill – with a heavy focus on centrists in his caucus who now hold the key to health reform.

The quick-moving developments come as Democrats in the House and Senate scramble to lock down votes on the public option, a major hurdle that must be cleared before legislation can move forward in either chamber. With two months left on the legislative calendar, the chances of delivering a bill to the president’s desk by Christmas diminish the longer Democrats wrangle over public option.

Both Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are engaging in the same delicate legislative dance, pulling the bill far enough left to satisfy liberals while soothing the concerns of moderates who fear a big-government, budget-busting program.

But while Reid was on the cusp Friday, Pelosi was going in the opposite direction – concluding she didn’t have the votes at this point for the most liberal public option plan in the House bill. Democrats endured a tense closed-door session in the Capitol basement Friday morning during which Whip James Clyburn and Caucus Chairman John Larson read each lawmakers' name and asked whether they would support the bill "as its currently written" if it included a public plan that reimburses doctors at five percent higher than Medicare.

According to one person present, Pelosi told the group, "We're on the 5-yard line. Let's not fumble the ball." But the House went home for the weekend with no sign of being able to pass a robust public option bill.

Pelosi hinted to reporters Friday that it was less important for the House to pass the most liberal version of the public option now that it appeared the Senate might include a version in its bill as well. She sounded open to a version that moderates favor, a public option with payment rates negotiated by doctors and hospitals.

"When we were dealing with the idea that the Senate would have nothing, it was really important again to go with the most muscle for the middle class with the robust public option," Pelosi told reporters. "So this is about the endgame now.”

It amounted to something of a role-reversal from recent weeks – with all the public option momentum in the Senate where it once seemed dead. Reid has not yet locked down 60 senators, according to three sources, but he is nearing the mark.

And Reid’s efforts got a boost Friday when two key Senate moderates signaled that that they were not inclined to block him.

"I conveyed to Leader Reid that a number of moderates still were extremely concerned about a government-run, taxpayer-funded, national public plan," Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) said in a statement after meeting with Reid. "However, I am encouraged that the conversations taking place over the past week among Senators who back different versions of a public option could potentially lead to a compromise. I believe this compromise should happen sooner, rather than later, so we can get to work on other critical aspects of heath care reform."

An aide to Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) said that, while the senator does not favor a public option with a state exemption, he was "inclined" to vote for a motion to proceed. This would put Reid closer to the 60-vote threshold.